Since the beginning of the Jerusalem Intifada in October 2015, Israeli occupation authorities have demolished 36 houses of Palestinian resistance fighters, according to Abdullah Al-Hourani Centre for Studies and Documentation.

The centre stated in one of the reports issued today that the occupation authorities closed four houses through “pouring ready-made concrete inside, in addition to the closure of one house by welding doors and windows because it was difficult to demolish.”

Two houses belonging to the families of the martyrs Baraa Saleh and Osama Atta were demolished, while the house of martyr Adel Ankush’s family was closed in Deir Abu Mashaal village, western Ramallah, in addition detainee Malik Hamid’s home was destroyed.

Dr. Sulaiman Al-Waari, the centre’s director, declared that the Israeli authorities are conducting a policy of collective punishment against Palestinians through demolishing their houses.

In an interview with Quds Press today, Al-Waari said that the demolitions are “a clear violation of international law and the Geneva Convention, and come within the occupation’s claims of creating a state of deterrence to stop resistance operations.”

He explained that the pace of demolitions increased since 2015, in an attempt to end Palestinian popular resistance and appease Jewish settlers.

In 2005, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered an end to the practice of home demolitions following an army committee report which found that the practice generally inflamed hatred, citing only 20 cases in which the threat of demolition deterred potential attackers or pushed their families to turn them in.